A Christmas Night To Change It All
by houseofme
Summary: There were lots of things that were new to her, things that weren't only about her new home but also about Fitz. It wasn't that she had never noticed them, she was just paying more attention to him discovering all those little things that were making Fitz the person he was. (Fitzsimmons watches the Doctor Who Christmas Special and Jemma notice things about Fitz.)


**A Christmas Night To Change It All**

My christmas gift for the amazing Tegan (fitzsimmmcns on tumblr), her prompt on The Fitzsimmons Secret Santa was 'Fitzsimmons spending Christmas watching the Doctor Who special' and I can't say how much i loved it. There are obvious spoilers for the dw episode.

This is set in Academy Era, 2012, and it's more of an au than a headcanon... You'll get why *winks*

Hope you like it.

(p.s. thanks to my amazing beta reader crystabelshalott)

 _Italics are doctor Who's The Snowmen lines._

* * *

It was a cold December day, like any other really were it not for one small detail: it was Christmas. Fitz and Simmons were both going to spend the holidays at the Academy, alone except for a few teachers. They had no choice, a lack of time and money forced them to stay at the Academy instead of flying back to England, as they had always done. It was sad that they couldn't spend Christmas with their families but they were together so everything was more bearable.

The Academy, once a place full of people and noise, was quiet and empty and it allowed Jemma to notice all those things that she had never noticed before. How the trees were just in the right places to sit under during spring - not that she would have time to do it with all the exams she had to do and all the work that came with it - how everything seemed bigger, including her flat, without all the cadets walking around.

There were lots of things that were new to her, things that weren't only about her new home but also about Fitz. It wasn't that she had never noticed them, she was just paying more attention to him discovering all those little things that were making Fitz the person he was. Through the time he had been her best friend she had gathered some information about him and she was proud about it. She had, for example discovered on her own how he liked to drink his tea (with a bit of milk and loads of sugar - the sugar being put in first), how he dressed for classes (ties, cardigans and trainers) and how he liked his prosciutto sandwich (with mozzarella and just a hint of pesto aioli). But even she couldn't know everything and, that Christmas night, watching the Doctor Who Christmas special, she would discover new thing about Fitz and about herself.

* * *

Standing in front of Jemma's bedroom door, Fitz called "Come on, Simmons! We need to go to the store and buy our dinner"

"Just give me a second, Fitz. I have to finish my report for Professor Jones's class" she said as he opened the door, finding her sitting in front of her computer busy to type.

"It's for the middle of January, Simmons"

"I know but I'd like to have everything ready before the holidays end" she told him as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I can't believe you're doing your homework on Christmas!"

"Shush you" Jemma said, getting up. "Now let's go before the supermarket closes or is too full of people"

She closed her computer, not before having made Fitz wait for other five minutes, grabbed her coat and followed him outside.

"We need lots of stuff"

"No, we don't. It's all on the list" she said as she took a piece of paper out of her jeans.

"That's a lot" Fitz said again.

"No, it isn't. And it's just the ingredients we need" she paused a moment and then continued "Just let's go so we can finish as soon as possible"

Jemma knew that he hated shopping and she was sure that he hated shopping for food on Christmas even more. He didn't like how full supermarkets were, how annoying people were and how there seemed no breathing space. That were a lot of things he didn't like.

* * *

Another thing she knew was that Leopold Fitz loved the snow, more than she had imagined. Sure he grew up with it, telling her about how cold and snowy were winters where he had spent his childhood and he always made a point to sound grumpy when the first snowflakes started to fall, but it was clear from his smile and the way he acted around it that he loved it.

A snowball hit her right in her back, she gasped for surprise and turned around only to see Fitz staring at her, a bright and mischievous smile on his face. It was war and she knew that it would have only ended with one of them surrendering. Fitz, preferably.

He won but then she only surrendered because he tackled her down and she couldn't just stop noticing how blue his eyes were.

After their little snow fight (that Jemma called stupid because they could have gotten sick when in reality she was just upset about her not winning) at the bus stop, the bus came and the two of them made all their shopping and came back.

Back at their flat, they started storage the food they would need for dinner. The menu including: prosciutto mozzarella sandwiches (with a hint of pesto aioli) and chocolate cookies. One might have considered it a small Christmas dinner but it was made out of their favorite food.

"Ehm... Jemma, I think we forgot about the chocolate chips" said Fitz looking through the shopping bags "I can't find them"

"They must be somewhere because I'm pretty sure to have put them in those bags not half an hour ago"

"Well I can't find them" he replied annoyed.

He had looked for them. Carefully. And yet Jemma found them, of course she did. She always did that, no matter if it was about chocolate chips, his clothes in the basket beside his bed, notes that he had forgotten in a book. Jemma blamed his impatience and that day she realized that maybe, only maybe, it had also to do with being homesick or rather having started a new life away from things he had always known.

If he was homesick, she was too. It wasn't because of her life at the Academy more the fact that this year she couldn't fly to England and spend time with her family. Alone but with Fitz, it was a good compromise. And they were about to watch the Doctor Who Christmas special which, she was sure, would help them both to feel less homesick.

Doctor Who was something that they both had always watched, she couldn't even tell if there had been a time where she didn't. They had never watched the show together though, shared thoughts and opinions but never in person and always via messages or Skype but they had never been in the same room, watching it from the same television, at the same time. She was excited to see how it would be watching it with him, being there together would have make their opinions more honest, There were some things that bothered her that she could easily not mention when they were talking via Skye, but when they were with each other there was no way she could hold back.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Fitz calling her, saying that the program was just about to start.

* * *

They sat down, trying to find a comfortable position, and then started to watch the episode. It was the first episode with the new companion, Clara. They shared an excitement in discovering how she would be and how the Doctor would act after having lost the Ponds in the last season finale.

"Talking snowman, how weird" said Jemma.

"Yeah" replied Fitz "I hope that Clara's going to be fun... Cheer the Doctor up since the spoilers said that it's going to be sad after the Ponds' death. Oh and did you notice that the actress is the same as in Asylum of the Daleks? I think their might even be the same character. Oswin and Clara that is"

"Oh, yes! That's her!" said Jemma "She's a barmaid in this one"

 _"Nice name. Clara. You should definitely keep it" the Doctor said._

"Wait! Didn't the synopsis say that she is a governess?" exclaimed Fitz, not taking his eyes off the screen "It makes no sense, she's a barmaid!"

"She could be both" Jemma said unsure.

She was quite liking Fitz getting upset about the episode. Sometimes he was collected, sometimes not and sometimes it was simple exaggeration. And the episode hadn't really started yet!

"Poor Doctor though, he must feel so alone" she blurted out.

"Without the Ponds? Definitely" he paused a moment "It would be like us being apart. Lonely, sad-"

"Bitter and weirdly without purpose?" Jemma finished for him and he nodded in agreement.

 _"Doctor. Doctor Who?" said Clara._

"There's a new title sequence!" screamed Fitz as the screen turned red. He looked at Jemma "What?!"

"I know, how could they?" Jemma protested "It's not that bad though"

"Not bad?" Fitz argued "It's different!"

He hated changes and she knew it.

"Different is good. Sometimes" she said, not sure if she was talking about the title sequence or about her and Fitz. If she had to be honest lately she had felt differently around him, she didn't know how or why. And it was a bad different, just different.

"Maybe" Fitz whispered.

* * *

As the story developed itself on screen, they laughed and she could swear that there were actual tears in Fitz's eyes whenever the Doctor seemed to be sad.

 _"The universe doesn't care"_

"Definitely" mumbled Fitz.

"Pond" whispered Jemma nearly at the same time Madam Vestra pronounced the same word. "The word she used was Pond!" Jemma exclaimed pulling Fits's arm, a bit too excited.

"I know, Jemma"

"The Doctor will help them now" said Jemma "He has to"

"He will" replied Fitz taking her hand and leaving her breathless for a second in the process.

"Sherlock Holmes?" they exclaimed as they looked at each other.

"He looks so funny dressed up like that"

"She kissed him? Why" asked Fitz.

 _"Smaller on the outside"_

 _"Ok, that's a first"_

"Definitely a first." Jemma agreed "I'm sure she's not going to be like the other companions now."

 _"I love making soufflés."_

"She's the Soufflé Girl." she said in a tone way more excited than she should have,

"I know, Jemma"

"And he gave her a key"

Now she was getting excited.

"Oh look! The Doctor's happy- No! Poor Clara..."

 _"Run you clever boy, and remember me"_

 _"I don't believe in ghosts"_

"Wait, so she's dead?" asked Fitz, confused.

"Not really, I guess. I mean look at that girl she's exactly the same person as Clara"

"There's two of them"

"Well this is confusing"

"But it was nice"

"I know" said Jemma as she got up from the couch "Let's eat, shall we?"

Fitz smiled as he followed her to the kitchen.

"Did you like the new TARDIS design?" she asked him.

"Yes, it's not that bad" Fitz answered "So Clara is the 'Soufflé Girl', isn't she?"

"Yup. I'm looking forward to watch the episode"

"March 30th, Jemma, March 30th. You have to wait a long while"

* * *

They moved around in the kitchen, making dinner. She noticed that in the last years they had formed some sort of routine, that almost seemed domestic. Almost. Some could even think they were a couple, which they weren't. Not at all. No matter what her dreams said.

"Are you sure the cookies only need fifteen minutes in the oven?" Jemma asked suspiciously.

"Of course. It's my mum's recipe, Jemma."

"But it's so little time, are you sure they're cooked?"

"Of course they are!"

And then they were bickering again, saying things about cookies and cooking time and how little or too long it was. They bickered often, in the lab most days but never at home. And Jemma thought it weird because it wasn't the way she bickered with brothers or cousins, even with her childhood friends. There was something but she couldn't describe it nor say what it was.

And sometimes, she felt stupid for even thinking it, it seemed as if the two of them were flirting. It was odd because she was sure Fitz didn't like her like that, or maybe he did?

Actually she wasn't even sure that she liked him, sure she had had a crush on him when they first met and maybe she got over it by now, but it wasn't like she ever liked- liked him.

She quickly brushed the thought away when she heard a yelp from Fitz. He had burned his hands, again. He did it basically every time they baked something. He always forgot to put on the gloves and maybe she should've brought him some for Christmas.

"Fitz, are you okay?" Jemma asked a bit more desperate than she probably should've.

"Yes, yes, Jem. I'm alright." Fitz said as he sat down on the floor and started to pick up the still burning hot cookies.

"Stop, you'll get hurt, Fitz." Jemma said as she took a look at his hands, "They're burnt."

"The cookies are on the floor."

"It doesn't matter, stop right now and let's take a look at this burn." She said trying to pull him up only to fall next to him.

"Okay, Dr. Simmons." It was something he always said when she got fussy over some medical issue, he knew she hated it, but at the same time liked when he joked with her.

"It's Doctor Doctor Jemma Simmons, for you." She replied with a fake pout. "Now, do me a favor and get up. I don't need a chem partner with burned hands."

"Is that all I am? The chem partner?" he asked joking.

"Of course not, you're more than that, Leo." she said, not knowing herself if she meant it to be part of the joke or a serious matter that had been bugging her for the past three years. Was Fitz more than her best friend in the whole world?

"You too are more than that. I mean, you're my best friend."

"You're my best friend too." She said, almost disappointed, a part of her hoped he would say more, that she was more than that for real, not just his best friend, as the girl he-

"No, no, you're more than that." He said looking at her in the eyes. "More than a best friend and I uh, I just needed to get it out. I think I love you, a lot."

Jemma sighed out of relief, still wondering if the words she had just heard were real or she had just imagined them.

He liked her. Leopold Fitz liked her.

"Say something, Jem. Please."

"You, you what?" She asked still a bit unsure, did she even liked him too? As more than that? Sure she didn't imagine her life without him and she knew he would always be by her side and she on his side and- oh, so that's what it was. She loved him. Jemma Simmons loved Leopold Fitz.

She didn't say anything else, she just kissed him, right there, on their floor next to a batch of cookies and at that moment she paid attention to another thing about Leopold Fitz, he loved her the same way she loved him.

* * *

"We lost the cookies and the sandwich is still on the counter." Fitz said as he held Jemma's face and laughed. Both of them still sitting on the floor.

"Yeah, but it's not a bad christmas at all." Jemma laughed, "I'm quite liking it."

"Definitely." Fitz smiled, "I'm liking it too."

"So are we a thing, now?" Jemma asked still a bit unsure of her relationship with Fitz.

"I like to think so, I mean, we're sitting on our kitchen floor, and we just kissed, so yeah." Fitz laughed again and she noticed how pretty his laugh was.

"I like to think so too."


End file.
